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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25181179">A Cruel Hope</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mysterious_and_Strange/pseuds/Mysterious_and_Strange'>Mysterious_and_Strange</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>League of Legends</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action/Adventure, Atonement - Freeform, Despair, F/M, Forgiveness, Love, Redemption</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 07:21:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>663</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25181179</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mysterious_and_Strange/pseuds/Mysterious_and_Strange</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After getting defeated and trapped in a human body by the Aspects, Aatrox finds himself in Runeterra wandering around and killing everything in sight. <br/>But once he finds himself in Ionia, he sees a small Skirmish for land between The Faction Noxus and Ionia, and it is there right in that moment, where he sees a warrior of unparalleled beauty. <br/>Irelia, the blade dancer.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aatrox/Irelia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Cruel Hope</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Regretful hatred</p><p>Darkness enveloped the dreamer.<br/>Cruel darkness surrounded him.</p><p>"What is this..."<br/>"This silence."<br/>"It's frightening, maddening, painful."<br/>"I can't breathe, yet I live."<br/>Moments pass, a realization struck the figure, who is currently laying on the now fully massacred battlefield.<br/>"Ah, this again?"<br/>"A dream, a nightmare."<br/>The dreaming figure awakes, and thus, a day of sorrow passes and another one follows.</p><p>Looking around the battlefield, no memory of the battle is regained, he knew not who he fought, nor was there a reason to. He remembered only hate, and hate is what he delivered.<br/>Mortals, gods, and ascended beings, it didn't matter, he soared wings of death, and those foolish enough to challenge fell, like all others before.</p><p>On the one hand, he knew that all this was justified, he was betrayed, hated, tarnished, and lastly, abandoned before the enemy.<br/>Once a noble godlike hero of war, now reduced to a genocidal madman, not even a shadow of his former self.<br/>Memories hit him like a bullet, from time to time. None were desirable.<br/>"The enemy, who is the enemy?"<br/>"Am I the villain? The abyss that I gazed into so long ago, was it me gazing to it? Or did I see a reflection of myself."</p><p>Movement interrupted his mumbling, he looked to the left and saw a boy, not even past 20, the boy looked scared, afraid and unaware of the situation at hand. The boy knew the figure he was staring at, and so, a mortal's basic instinct took control.<br/>Fleeing.</p><p>This was out of the ordinary. He never let anyone leave alive, and yet, he's watching this boy run.<br/>The child looked so pathetic.<br/>Not even kill worthy, not worth of this blade.<br/>Perhaps letting him live, was the correct choice.</p><p>That would what he would have thought before he lost all sense.<br/>Putting the sword down on the ground, he leaped to the boy, the youth slipped and looked at the opposing figure.<br/>"P-Please." The youth begged on the ground. The stories he was told as a child to scare him existed, the beast existed, it was before him.<br/>"I beg of thee, beast, I-I have children." An obvious lie, all hope was lost.<br/>The so-called 'beast' took the kid by the neck, lifting him well above ground.<br/>"Tell me, how are you still alive?" The oppressor demanded.<br/>The boy couldn't reply, how could he? He was frightened, too afraid for his own good.<br/>"You dared to beg to a 'beast', but there are beasts so fierce that know some touch of pity, though I know none, and therefore, am no beast.</p><p>He crushed the youth's throat, popping the eyes out of the body and blood gushed out of the throat, ending his life instantly.<br/>The figure put the boy's body on the ground and muttered.<br/>"I have no goodness left, it was taken from me, stolen. I am oblivion.<br/>I am, Aatrox."<br/>It would be a lie if he said that there wasn't a sign of pity in his eyes, so many years ahead of the boy, taken away in a second.</p><p>Finally, Aatrox moves on. He looked at his sword from afar, which was lying on a pool of blood. A faint, red glow then emanates from the blade, the fallen god looked at the sword delightfully.<br/>And then he spoke.<br/>"Ah, right, how could I forget, you were at my side, all along."<br/>Aatrox picks up the sword, observing its unmerciful splendor.<br/>He felt something, something strange, unknown...<br/>This feeling was new, he felt regret, after many years, he finally felt it again.<br/>But...<br/>His hatred far outgrew his regret.<br/>"I shall not feel regret, nor let myself be wielded as a tool again! I am damned, but I will slaughter all and everything!"</p><p>He lifted his sword and looked upon the horizon.<br/>But still, the feeling of regret never left his cruel mind.</p><p>"We march on, anew."</p><p>End of chapter 1</p>
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